June 2005
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Job: RealNetworks (Seattle, WA) seeks a Marketing Manager to analyze and direct its viral marketing efforts across both offline and online channels. Email resumes to 78123.real.24@openhireresumes.com.
Job: March of Dimes (White Plains, NY) seeks a Manager of Direct Internet Fundraising to develop new strategies for online fundraising efforts using various techniques. Email recruiter@marchofdimes.com.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job opening? E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
WOMMA Members Form WOM Practice at Pinnacle
Yahoo!Finance: Pinnacle Worldwide
Rick Bruner: Invertising Puts Consumers in Control
MediaPost: Online Media Daily
How Should Advertisers do Viral?
ClickZ Experts Article
A blatantly self-promotional blog is never interesting. Instead, provide content about the topic and tastefully link your products to it.
For the A&E TV show "INKED", Electric Artists launched INKEDblog to focus on the world of tattoos. Except for a subtle link to the TV show site, the blog does not stick you with a lot of promotion. Electric Artists also produced Garden of Sweden, which centers on an adult-oriented party lifestyle and happens to be sponsored by Svedka Vodka. Both blogs provide great content like exclusive photos and stories without intrusive company logos and sales pitches.
THE LESSON: For word of mouth to work, focus on your topic and not your sales pitch.
More info:
http://www.inkedblog.com
http://www.gardenofsweden.com
http://www.electricartists.com
One of the easiest ways to generate word of mouth is to provide a way for consumers to tell a friend. Don't make customers come to you -- take it to their house. Alloy Media used this technique to connect viewers of the TV soap opera "Guiding Light" with each other. Key influencers -- women aged 18-34 -- were invited to host "Who Shot Phillip?" viewing parties for three of their friends, complete with squirt guns, a family tree, and disposable camera. The end result was increased awareness about the show.
THE LESSON: Make it fun to tell a friend.
More info:
CBS Entices Younger Daytime Viewers Via Promo
http://www.alloy.com
Word of mouth doesn't necessarily have to start from one source. Audi kicked off their buzz campaign for the A3 car with a staged auto theft that was promoted in multiple media. Here's how the plot unfolded: A top-secret car was reported stolen from a New York dealership. Police were called in, a crime scene was established, and soon ads for the "missing" car appeared. Two "recovery experts" then started posting on various blogs documenting various A3 "sightings" in special video clips, blog posts, magazine ads, and TV spots. By the time the car was officially introduced, bloggers had setup their own fan sites to follow the story and keep it going on their own.
THE LESSON: Use multiple media outlets to generate word of mouth.
Follow the story:
http://www.stolena3.com
Cesar Hidalgo at the University of Notre Dame and his partners studied how movie marketing interacts with word of mouth reviews and box-office success. Their theory was that movies that were marketed heavily but weren't actually very good would show strong initial sales but would drop off quickly when word got out about a film's quality. They also asked if sales for quietly released films that were actually good would grow as word spread. They tested the theoretical model against actual box-office revenue and found that their theory held true, and that the model could be used to predict future successes.
More info:
Nature News
Cesar Hidalgo Abstract
MediaWeek UK's Andy Fry writes about how hot brands can pop out of nowhere on the power of word of mouth. Interesting patterns emerge about which types of products are most successful. Look for: 1) Products that serve well-linked communities, such as kids' shows that are talked about in preschools; 2) Products that attract visible insiders, such as the DJs that first showed the iPod to club kids; or 3) Products that are natural connectors such as eBay or social network web sites, which are fundamentally about making introductions.
More info:
MediaWeek:Brands that Came from Nowhere
Take a look at these interesting case studies that were originally presented at AD:TECH in San Francisco. Download the presentations to learn how Microsoft created buzz for Halo 2, how Rodan+Fields got customers to reach out to friends, how Rock Bottom Brewery learned who their active promoters are, and how Disney spread the word on a new movie.
Download it here:
AD:TECH Case Studies(PDF)
Conference Calls Unlimited has incredibly enthusiastic customers, especially for such a non-exciting product (conference call services). One of their secrets: They make it easy and rewarding for happy customers to tell their friends about the service. CCU prints up calling cards that are customized with their customers' logos. The cards offer a completely free conference call. Why does it work? It gives CCU's customers a reason to spread the word and makes those customers look good by sharing something of value. Rewarding your customers' friends provides more motivation than incentives directly to your customer.
THE LESSON: Give your fans the tools to talk about you, and make them look like heroes to their friends for doing it.
In creating the Business Book Blog Tour, Todd Sattersten of 1-800-CEO-READ found a way to generate low-cost publicity for new business books by getting various blogs to work together. Here's how it works: an author "moves" from one business-related blog to another over the course of the week. The blog's owner can then host an interview or even turn over the site's content to the author for a day. Because the various blogs work together in a coordinated manner over the course of the week, a mass of word of mouth and unique content is created.
THE LESSON: The best way to work with blogs is to find the ones that discuss your topic and offer good content.
More info:
http://www.apennyfor.com/bbbt.html
Just how much influence do bloggers hold in U.S. politics? A report from BuzzMetrics and the Pew Internet & American Life Project attempts to answer that question. Examining various political blogs during the 2004 election, the study concluded that the power of bloggers to create buzz is still largely subject to the same forces that buffet the mainstream media such as access to information and the behavior of other public voices.
The report also found that the highest impact for blogs may be in providing an open forum for discussion. Bloggers didn't create the "Rathergate" story, but generated additional buzz by examining and discussing the scandal as it developed.
More info:
Complete Research Report (PDF)
http://www.buzzmetrics.com/
http://www.pewinternet.org
Job: Campbell's (Camden, NJ) seeks a Director of Category Business Insights to develop fact-based strategies for deploying non-traditional communication, including viral marketing. Go to Campbellsoup.com for hiring info.
Job: NVIDIA (Santa Clara, CA) seeks a Promotions/Viral Marketing Manager who will be responsible for conceptualizing and executing viral promotional campaigns. Email resumes to hr@nvidia.com.
Job: Taco Bell (Irvine, CA) is seeking a Public Relations Associate Manager to manage a buzz marketing team to generate buzz building ideas for the brand and execute national PR programs. Go to yumcareers.com for more details.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job opening? E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
Three presentations from the WOMMA Summit in March were cited by CorporateBlogging as blogs to read "for a deeper understanding of the changing field your blog exists in."
David Reis -- Influence the Influencers
"All of David Reis's presentation is worth a read if you want to understand what happens when people are empowered -- and connected -- on the Internet."
Ingrid Newkirk -- PETA Staying Relevant
"For People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the blog of cofounder and president, Ingrid Newkirk, is one of several ways of staying relevant with fresh content daily."
Michael Wiley -- GM Blog in Marketing Strategy Terms
"Wiley's presentation is all the proof you need to convince yourself that a blog can be a integral part of a marketing strategy, written in the words your Marketing Director feel comfortable with."
More info:
http://www.corporateblogging.info/2005/05/context-for-your-blog.asp
http://www.womma.org/summit/agenda.htm
Hoping to take a bite out of iTunes' share of the legal online music download business, Christian music store SongTouch makes it easy for its customers to spread word of mouth. Under its 1Pass program, customers are asked to pass along a recommendation and song clip every time they make a purchase. Points can then be earned toward free music every time one of their recommendations is purchased.
THE LESSON: Make it easy for your service to go viral by putting the tools up front.
More info:
SongTouch
Rocky Mountain News Profile
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